Comparison

Beneath The Lighthouse vs Picnic Penguin

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Beneath The Lighthouse

Embark on a serene puzzle adventure as a boy searching for his lost Grandpa. Explore mysterious mechanical contraptions beneath a darkened lighthouse and uncover the truth behind its silence. This game offers a free-to-play experience with ads and a lives system, or a premium unlock to remove ads and the lives system.

Highlights
  • Serene puzzle action gameplay
  • Explore mysterious mechanical wheels
  • Search for a lost Grandpa
  • Free-to-play with ads
  • Premium unlock option
  • Lives system (free version)
Features
Read full description

"I stare at the horizon every night before I sleep hoping to catch a glimpse of the lighthouse.The light reminds me of Grandpa and my summer visits playing on the cliffs. That warm life saving beacon not only saves ships, it keeps me safe too. Grandpa’s there just across the water watching over me. But the lighthouse hasn't shone now for days and the fog is thick! What's happened? It's time to visit Grandpa!" Beneath the lighthouse is a serene puzzle action game about a boy in search of his lost Grandpa. Your journey will take you through mysterious mechanical wheels that lay beneath the lighthouse! **Beneath The Lighthouse is optimized for iPhone5, iPad3, iPad mini2 and iPod Touch 5G or Newer. You can try it on older devices, but we can’t guarantee a smooth rolling experience! -This game is free to play or can be unlocked to a premium experience- Free to Play: We use advertising to monetise the experience. There are no coins/gems/booster to pay for or timers. The free version of the game contains a lives system which is carefully balanced to be fair but that makes the game slightly harder than premium. Premium unlock: We offer a single iAP to unlock the game to a premium experience. The premium version contains no 3rd party ads and we remove the lives system. This game contains cross promotion for other Nitrome games and this is not removed with the IAP for removal of ads.

About

Picnic Penguin

Guide a penguin to push food items onto a picnic blanket by strategically moving blocks. Solve increasingly complex puzzles across multiple worlds, collect coins to unlock cosmetic skins, and enjoy a charming pixel art and low poly visual style with arcade-inspired music.

Highlights
  • Push multiple blocks simultaneously
  • Rearrange blocks to clear paths
  • Unlockable worlds and puzzles
  • Coin collection for cosmetic skins
  • Pixel art and 3D low poly graphics
  • Arcade-inspired music
Features
Read full description

It's picnic time! Help the penguin to push tasty treats onto the picnic blanket. In Picnic Penguin you can push multiple blocks at a time and rearrange them to open the path and complete the levels. Picnic Penguin is a real treat to enjoy in your spare time! Picnic Penguin features several worlds to unlock with a huge variation of puzzles to solve while finding coins to collect all the skins on the gashapon machine. Features: • Simple and addicting gameplay • Neat puzzles to solve • Multiple skins to unlock • Pixel art and 3D low poly graphics • Arcade inspired music!

Screenshots

Beneath The Lighthouse4 screens
Picnic Penguin4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Picnic Penguin at 74% against Beneath The Lighthouse's 57%. Picnic Penguin also leads on rating (4.4 vs 4.2). On price, ratings volume, update cadence and ads there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Beneath The Lighthouse sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Picnic Penguin sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Picnic Penguin holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 4.2. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 70 and 34 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 57% of Beneath The Lighthouse's written reviews are positive against 74% of Picnic Penguin's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Beneath The Lighthouse ships an update every 4 months, Picnic Penguin every 5 months. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Beneath The Lighthouse versus Picnic Penguin: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBeneath The LighthousePicnic Penguin
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.2 (70 ratings)4.4 (34 ratings) — better
Positive reviews56.8% of reviews74.1% of reviews — better
Number of ratings70 — better34
Update frequencyEvery 4 months — betterEvery 5 months
AdsYesYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS11.0 — better12.0
Further details — not scored
Size205 MB29 MB
Age rating9+4+
DeveloperNitromeGionathan Pesaresi

Customer experience

Beneath The Lighthouse

All ratings69 ratings
Positive73.9%
Neutral11.6%
Negative14.5%
Written reviews227 reviews
Positive56.8%
Neutral16.7%
Negative26.4%

Picnic Penguin

All ratings34 ratings
Positive79.4%
Neutral11.8%
Negative8.8%
Written reviews27 reviews
Positive74.1%
Neutral7.4%
Negative18.5%

Bugs and requests

Beneath The Lighthouse

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Inability to skip intro
  • Screen rotation issues
  • Crashes after completing levels
  • Glitches with character model

Requested features

5 requests
  • More levels
  • Ability to listen to own music
  • Difficulty settings
  • Checkpoint system
  • Improved performance on older devices

Picnic Penguin

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Beneath The Lighthouse

One-time1
  • Premium Unlock$3.99
4 purchases

Picnic Penguin

One-time4
  • Ice Pop Ticket$0.99
  • Cheesecake Ticket$1.99
  • Premium$2.99
Show 1 more
  • Chicken Ticket$2.99

Questions

Is Beneath The Lighthouse free?
Beneath The Lighthouse is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Picnic Penguin free?
Picnic Penguin is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Beneath The Lighthouse or Picnic Penguin?
Picnic Penguin is rated higher. Beneath The Lighthouse averages 4.2 out of 5 from 70 ratings, while Picnic Penguin averages 4.4 from 34 ratings.
Do Beneath The Lighthouse or Picnic Penguin have ads?
Both Beneath The Lighthouse and Picnic Penguin show ads.
Which is updated more often, Beneath The Lighthouse or Picnic Penguin?
Beneath The Lighthouse ships an update every 4 months, and Picnic Penguin every 5 months. Most recently, Beneath The Lighthouse was updated on November 6, 2026 and Picnic Penguin on November 3, 2026.

Other comparisons